Badge in Azure

The magic map floated inside the Magical Element Tower, and the entire Myers Mainland unfolded before Saleen’s eyes. The mountains, rivers, plains, cities…

Saleen turned his eyes to the Purgatory Desert. The Holy See army avoided the desert. A thought occurred to Saleen: the key to the problem lay within the Purgatory Desert!

What is in the desert that makes the Holy See avoid it like a plague?

However, there was a far more important issue at the moment, as Daliang City’s safety proved even more important. Saleen had no one with him, so he had no choice but to send ancient warriors to Yaoyang City to look for Nailisi. He also sent sorcerers to take Tempest Dragonmights and fly for Lonestar City to have Aini send some death mages over.

As for Ceylon City, he intended to let Nicholas and Nailisi take care of it.

It occurred to Saleen to send someone to look for Gugger. It was the first time that Gugger had entered Saleen’s Magical Element Tower, and he was rather curious. Saleen did not put any mental pressure on him, as je still felt quite a bit of gratitude for Gugger.

“Gugger, I need to leave Ceylon City for a while.”

Saleen’s words terrified Gugger, as he thought that Saleen was abandoning the city because there was a great army coming for them.

“Easy there. I’m leaving Nailisi and Nicholas to take care of things. I’m not taking any sorcerers or equipment with me. The magic cannons will stay here as well. But I hope you leave, as I cannot guarantee what the war will look like. Gugger, I’ll protect your city as best I can,. This place is my home as well,” Saleen spoke from the bottom of his heart, and he felt rather exhausted from doing so.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Gugger felt rather tired. He had earned wealth and prestige for following Saleen, but he had genuine sentiments towards his estate. It was the place his family had been for generations.

“No, Gugger, this place would still be yours. I intend to take your son with me and it is best that both you and your wife be there as well. When your son gets used to the life of a magic apprentice, you can come back here any time. The affairs of Ceylon City will still be managed by your people. My army will take care of the defense works,” Saleen spoke in a roundabout manner. He had promised Gugger to take the boy in.

Saleen had large number of mages at his disposal. It was a very easy matter to make Gugger’s son a mage.

There was no need whatsoever for Gugger and his wife to tag along, as it was ridiculous for a magic apprentice to take their family along to learn from a mage. However, such words would put Gugger at ease.

Gugger was a kind man, but he was not dumb. He would not have thought of ways to buy Saleen and take risks to leave something for Saleen, all of which enabled Saleen to escape without a glitch all those years back.

He knew Saleen’s good intentions, and he bowed solemnly to the young mage and king.

Saleen sighed. “Gugger, I’ll keep Ceylon City as it had always been. Rest assured and leave with me. But before that, I’ll need to destroy the army outside the gates.”

Saleen was talking with Gugger in the Sikeqinyan language, and ‘destroy’ did not mean killing them all. Gugger was unable to catch it all as he was rather dazed. He returned to his residence escorted by the ancient warriors.

When he discussed the matter with his wife, Narsha made the decision, saying, “leave with Saleen, or all your investment will be reduced to dust. You need to stay alive. If Saleen was telling you to leave, then he was saying that he isn’t sure about things here. But it’s best that you ask for Saleen’s help to move the citizens of the city southward.”

“Southward? That’s in the mountains.”

“It’s still better than dying in the war. The way I see it, Saleen is not a cold-blooded person. He would definitely supply food for our people. We both really are not cut out to be nobles.”

“Narsha, Ceylon City may be small but it still has a population in the ten-thousands. We are at war now. Having tens of thousands of people moving would be too difficult. Saleen could be a saint, but there is just no way he would do such a thing.”

“How do you know before you try? You can see for yourself that Saleen was only coming back to deal with Earl Sufonso. All the people had cheated and bullied him before, did you see His Highness Saleen even mention any of them?”

Gugger was dumbfounded. The way he saw it, Saleen was right to take his revenge against Sufonso, but he had never considered how many had bullied Saleen when he was a beggar. Saleen truly showed no signs of wanting revenge against any of them.

“I’ll give it a try. You gather the personal guards and let them inform their families, and…the smiths in the city. Take them along, as they might be of some use to His Highness Saleen. All those who had been following us for years, remember not to leave any of them behind.

Saleen had mobilized his army and gotten ready to battle outside the city while Gugger was still busy preparing at his side. The over 100,000-strong Sikeqinyan army was powerful, but there were no super powerful figures among them capable of keeping Saleen in check. Saleen could wipe them out using the War Drum of Fear alone. The army that had originally been stationed there was there so that Nailisi was able to surround the Sikeqinyans, which prompted the vanguard of the army outside to march quicker, preventing them from forming into a million-strong army. Taking them out bit by bit would lower the cost of the battle.

Besides, Saleen had intentions of taking the army in and have them crush the external army. The 100,000-strong army would lose the courage to fight, which made them easy to take in. However, he no longer had the need. With him going to Golden Plains soon and no one in charge of the battle there, it would be better to crush them as soon as possible.

Two figures were seen hovering in midair within a skywell in the northern mountain regions of the Purgatory Desert, at the very center of Myers mainland.

The monster had two heads and was pitch-black, making it difficult for anyone to keep their eyes on it for more than half a second.

There were a man and a woman hovering mid air as well. They were both oracles of the Goddess of Nature, who had walked out of the temple in Purgatory Desert. They looked exactly the same as when they left. The one that was being suppressed below was the Dark Sky Devil, who had escaped onto the mainland.

The Dark Sky Devil’s wounds were all healed due to some unknown happenings, but under the suppression of the two oracles, the Dark Sky Devil had no way of escaping the skywell.

“Don’t force my hand, you two!” The Dark Sky Devil roared and yelled at the two in the sky.

Neither Gessica nor Gauf paid any heed to the monster’s words. They simply cast one holy prose after another and fortified the edge of the skywell, preventing it from being destroyed by the Dark Sky Devil’s rampages. The place was barren. They would not hurt any innocents regardless of how fierce the battle was. The magic beasts in the mountains had all ran away long ago.

They had been leaving the temple for quite some time and both Gessica and Gauf learned during their pursuit of the Dark Sky Devil that there was another thing called the Holy See in this world, spreading the faith of the Lord of Glory.

With the Goddess of Nature perished, there was no point in killing all the adherents, but Gessica and Gauf remained in pursuit of the Dark Sky Devil. The devilish god was too terrifying to be let loose. If it were to be left alone, it would be anyone’s guess how many people on the mainland would die. The Goddess of Nature wished for humanity to procreate and spread. It was written all over the doctrines what the oracles should be protecting.

The Dark Sky Devil would be resurrected from souls of humans, so long as humanity was unable to cast out all evil desires. If such devilish gods were not completely destroyed or suppressed and be left to grow, they would grow powerful enough to destroy an entire plane, and perhaps even destroy heaven.

The Dark Sky Devil felt angry and powerless. There was a chance to restore its powers to level 12, yet both oracles were also level 12 beings. They were even able to break through the limit of level 12 in the previous battle and unleash an attack at the power of level 13. The attack almost shook the entire plane’s powers and exposed hidden things of untold numbers. There were also some things that broke through the limit of the plane’s control because of the battle.

The Dark Sky Devil knew that it was no longer the most powerful creature to be found on the plane. The quicker the restoration of power on the plane grew, the lower its possibility to spread its faith here. When level 16 ones were to appear on the plane, it would be suppressed or even eradicated.

The powers of the plane had loosened and it would be able to advance any time. When a level 13 powerful one were to officially appear, both oracles would advance immediately. It would lose its hope to escape altogether when the two ganged up on it.

“Well then, let’s die together!” The ferocious parts of the Dark Sky Devil’s vile temperament were unleashed. The two oracles tangled with it with the intention of wiping it from existence. In its later stages of escape, it was no longer able to find suitable human host to hide itself. Now that it was cornered, the Dark Sky Devil brought incredibly devastating powers to bear.

The head on its right opened its huge mouth and chomped down on the head on the left, swallowing it.

The body of the Dark Sky Devil expanded rapidly within the skywell. The wound in its neck closed. The horns on the remaining head entwined. It flipped around and charged to the bottom of the skywell.

“This is bad!” Gauf was shocked at the scene.

Gessica saw it as well. The Dark Sky Devil intended to drill through the ground and cause a powerful earthquake. While there was no living creature nearby, their location was too near to the Purgatory Desert. If the crust of the earth were broken, it would cause a chain reaction. There were many terrifying creatures incapable of leaving, as there were traps and devices laid out by the goddess at the edge of the desert. The creatures would die immediately trying to leave the desert.

But if the crust cracked, the devices would take over a year to repair. Hundreds of millions of desert creatures would rush out.

The oracles looked at each other and dove straight into the skywell, pursuing the Dark Sky Devil.

The bottom of the skywell was extremely hot, as it neared magma. There were no creatures at the bottom, just bald rocks. The spiral horns on the head of the Dark Sky Devil created a large hole at the ground with a diameter of over a hundred meters.

It resulted from the Dark Sky Devil holding back. A level 12 creature would have turned the everything within a thousand meter radius into a hell.

The Dark Sky Devil made a hole over 500 meters deep by ramming at the ground. The lone horn on its head fell off and continued drilling downwards. Where the horn touched, rocks crumbled and hot steam shot up, blowing the black aura around the Dark Sky Devil.

Even if I die, I refuse to die at the hands of those two oracles. If we go to hell, there is still a chance I will be able to resurrect. The Dark Sky Devil cursed the oracles using its unique language, while keeping the horn running, drilling into the earth and drawing out the underground fire within.